While some might accuse me of having an unhealthy obsession with taking down Michele Bachmann, I have always tried to be intellectually honest in my criticism. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of local right wing echo chamber, Gary Gross.

His obsession is DFL Senator Tarryl Clark and he will advance any meme no matter how inaccurate or downright false in the hopes that it will stick. Given that the legislative session is drawing near, Gross is feverishly setting up his meme that Clark is a hypocrite.

A loyal reader to LFR just emailed me about this morning’s meeting of the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce executives group meeting. This friend of LFR told me that Tarryl Clark made this startling announcement:

“I will not raise taxes” in terms of the looming state budget deficit.

This person attended the meeting so it’s firsthand, reliable information.

Oh, so I am to believe a "loyal" Gross reader who attended the event? The problem is that any "loyal" Gross readers are so hyperpartisan that there is no telling what they actually heard and twisted into the above quote. But it gets better:

UPDATE: This loyal reader to LFR just sent me this update:

Her exact quote: “I’m not going to raise taxes!” (emphasis on the “I’m”) In fact, all the DFL legislators (Tarryl, Larry Haws and Larry Hosch) stated that raising taxes is not a good option.

The update also said this:

Rep. Dan Severson and Rep. Steve Gottwalt were in the room and heard her say it, as did Chamber executive, Teresa Bohnen.

I get it, the loyal reader is none other than Steve Gottwalt! LOOK, I can make baseless claims without the slightest shred of evidence other than an anonymous source. If Gottwalt wants to play the gotcha game, I imagine we could dig up a gem or two:

WHAT, you mean to tell me that Gottwalt sits and shakes his head and rolls his eyes and snickers at constituents with whom he disagrees? Oops, I guess I would rather be caught saying I would raise taxes than caught showing utter disregard for the people that I represent...

Now that I have talked to super anonymous sources who were also at the meeting I can tell you that this quote has been taken so far out of context that the intellectual honesty of the person selling it is next to zero. I am working on getting the full extent of Senator Clark's remarks.

Political Muse

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